A couple major issues: The wall is about an inch off plumb from the bottom of the door from to the top (81.5 inches) The wall leans inward the door is an inswing. The wall was constructed using 2x3's, the door is for 2x4 wall.
As I see it the only thing to do is to shore up the wall using 1x1 shims at the top so the door casing is plumb, and to do some creative moulding on the inside to make up for the door being set in and inch from the wall at the top. Or are there some other alternatives, trust me I'm all ears. I've replaced several doors in the past but never one on 2x3 construction and never one that was this far out of plumb.
If the studs are 2x3 you would make allowance for the plasterboard on top, giving you a 100mm (4inch) thick wall. The door casing on a plumb 4 inch wall should fit perfectly so the architreve will fit flush to door casing and finished wall.
I have fitted doorsets in non-plumb walls in the past (and probably will in the future :-)) and the usual way to do it has been to fix the doorset perfectly plumb in the centre of the opening (in this case, so that there is half-an-inch over at the top on the outside and half-an-inch over at the bottom on the inside) then use a router or circular saw to rebate (or as you colonials say, rabbet) the back of the architreve to fit flush on both the wall and door casing. Any gaps remaining can be filled by decorator's caulk (as we say in joinery 'The man in white'll put it right').
Other than that, you could shim the studs on the wall so that any plasterboard will be plumb, fix the doorset correctly and fill out whatever deficit remains between the width of the casing and thickness of the wall with a lath of suitable timber of the correct thickness. Then plant your architreve.
Thanks, sounds very reasonable. Basically shim up on the front and sides to plumb and level then do some creative carpentry work for trim and moulding. Trimming the back of the casing to fit flush with the inside isn't an option since I'd be cutting off part of where the lockset anchors.
Meat Plow tossed the following at the wall, and it stuck:
frame,d make allowance for the plasterboard on
frame,ual way to do it has been to fix the doorset
Told you I'd take care of you. You also have the option as part of the creative carpentry to mortise in a piece of a two by four that is level where the lockset will go. If the door is prehung, I'd hang it first, then cut out about eight inches around the lockset, and use good beefy screws to drive the 2x4 into whatever meat (excust the pun) you can find behind it, building up as necessary before putting in the frame. That may involve some plaster work, depending upon how thorough you want to be, and what your comfort level is with the work.
It'll be a lot of work, but it should be doable.
The latch and deadbolt are waist level. As it stands now, the inside of the door case is level with the inside wall at the bottom as I've shimmed the backside of the entire outside molding with a 1x1 strip to make up for the 2x3 construction. Now plumb, the top of the backside of the door casing is about 1.5 inches in the wall at the top. The backside of the outer molding is 1.5 inches away from the top of the outside wall. The bottom is flush. What I will do now is add another 1.5 inches to the backside of the top portion of the outer molding and down maybe a few inches on the sides of the backside of the front molding. This will give the door (prehung) casing or frame greater stability by having contact with the top of the front wall rather than just relying on anchoring it from the sides. I'll also have to seal the sides of the molding which will be harder to do since the house has a layer of aluminum siding atop the original wood shingle style siding. This was basically my plan from the beginning as there is really no other alternatives. I'll just have to be creative with the inside wall and building the part of the door frame that is inside of the wall flush with the surface of the inside wall. And eventually when the house is resided next year, the sider will have to be creative with the molding around the door.
It's doable. I have to do it the old door is gone :) Main mistake I made was not checking to see if the wall was plumb but the homeowner (my girlfriend) had already purchased the door and it didn't really matter if it was plumb or not, the door was going in :) She's just wondering what's taking so long to put it in LOL Oh and her furnace went on the blink last night so now that has to be replaced since it's 26 years old and will cost as much to repair as to replace.
Sounds like you've sort of done what I would've done. Any chance of a few pictures from different viewpoints? The outside, the inside, the latch and deadbolt?
How many fixings have you used to install the doorset? Generally only 8 are required on an external door casing, and I can't see any real need (unless you're a REAL belt and braces type of guy :-)) for a fixing in the head of the casing, especially if there's even the slightest of gaps between the casing head and the top of the opening.
Yes I can take some. I'll post back when and where they'll be.
Well there are three on each side. Those had to be built out approx 5 inches since the studs were recessed back that far. And the top and the bottom of the casing will also be anchored. There also is a small twist from left to right so it's going to be touchy shimming to get the casing square. Fortunately this is a Pella door and the casing has small temporary spacers installed around the inside casing to help keep everything square from the door's perspective. I do appreciate your help. I pretty much knew what had to be done from the beginning but it's always nice to have confirmation from a 3rd party. Also it helps explain to my GF why this is taking so long. And by the way, the original door was horribly hard to open and close for good reason. My only fault and not that it mattered since there wasn't a fix was that I forgot to check to see if the wall was plumb. And the only fix there would have been to gut the wall and rebuild it which isn't a viable option.
A picture tells a thousand words. That'll help with my overall visualisation.
I'd use more on an external hardwood casing but you'll get by with three each side.
Keerist! Could you have slipped in a 2x3 or at least blocks where you were going to fix to or would that have interfered too much with the doorset?
Even if it's the house that Jack built it's imperative your casing is flat to the door so keep shimming :-)
Just visited their site. It seems they have a window and door replacement sale on right now........... :-)
Trick of the trade for fixing doorsets- Remove door from casing. Fix the hinge side of the casing plumb, square to the line of the wall and straight. Hang the door on the casing. Using the swinging door as a guide, fix the latch side of the casing in such a way that the door fits into the rebate (rabbet) on that side, so that it touches all of the rebate. Shim as necessary then fix the latch side of the casing. The door will then close tight every time.
No probs. Glad to be of help.
So now you have written proof eh? It's on the internet so of course it's true :-)
Understandable. I've had countless "D'oh!" moments in the past where, like a fool, I made the incorrect assumption that the guy who built the wall was as conscientious as me and liked to do things right first time and built plumb walls :-).
Far too much time away from the pub. I feel ya :-)
Out of curiosity: does the new doorset have a hardwood threshold and metal weather strip on the threshold built in? If so you might have got away with leaning the whole thing inwards slightly at the top without the door binding to the floor when it's opened, as the foot of the door when closed would be at least an inch or so above floor level..
That's exactly what I did. Blocks top and bottom and in the middle. I've seen it done before with 3 on each side (my house).
Absolutely.
That makes sense but the instructions per Pella state to shim level and plumb before you ever open the door to anchor.
Heheh. I hung a 4 section 6x7 garage door and opener for her about a month ago. Took me a couple days to do because I did it at my leisure. And it wasn't like I had to do two doors a day to make a living on the man hours. So what does she do? Drags me and my truck out to the builder supply and buys two entrance doors and a 6 foot sliding glass door :) Luckily the other door and sliding door are on plumb walls.
Now she needs a new furnace LMAO! I'll give you one guess as to who went to HVAC school and used to install and service them and who will install the new furnace? :)
LOL well the entire front of the house is the same. Major undertaking and something that would have to be done by a licensed contractor here in the city. Besides I don't have the capacity to undertake that immense of a job.
The threshold is metal and plastic. I do understand that being a few tics off plumb usually isn't a problem but it's so far off that I'm better off being plumb and square because it isn't going to be any easier to finish the cosmetic part of the install .
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